RSPB calls for more UK wind farms

There should be a significant increase in the number of wind farms built onshore in the UK, the RSPB has said.

It called for an end to the "needless delays" that beset wind farm projects, after a study said more turbines could be built without harming wildlife.

It would be "disastrous" if the vast potential of wind power in the UK was wasted, the charity added.

Ministers said the planning process was being "streamlined" to encourage a mixture of on and offshore wind farms.

In 2007, just 2% of the UK's energy came from wind power, compared with 29% in Denmark, 20% in Spain and 15% in Germany.

'Sense of urgency'

A report for the RSPB, written by the Institute for European Environmental Policy, said that with an effective planning system, the UK could greatly increase onshore wind development without damaging nature conservation.

Ruth Davis, head of climate change policy at the RSPB, said it was in favour of such an expansion because of the "truly terrifying" impact that global warming was increasingly having on birds.

"Left unchecked, climate change threatens many species with extinction," she said.

"Yet that sense of urgency is not translating into actions on the ground to harness the abundant wind energy around us."

We must reduce the many needless delays that beset wind farm developments

Ruth Davis, RSPB

The RSPB called on the government to set firm regional and local targets for developing wind energy, and give more guidance to councils on how to deal with planning applications.

Currently, many become bogged down in local politics at the expense of national efforts to tackle climate change, it said.

In order to protect wildlife, the RSPB argued, there must be a program of mapping to identify which areas should be earmarked for wind turbines and which should be avoided in order to protect habitats.

Areas with large numbers of nesting seabirds or those which are home to rare birds of prey should be spared, it said.

Much more effort must also be made to win the support of local communities, the charity said, for example, by offering cheaper energy to people in the immediate vicinity of a wind farm.

Investment in local wildlife projects would also help smooth the planning process, it added.

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